Hidden Affections
by Insanitoon
Summary: A rare item event is being held today, unfortunately Elk couldn't log on until late evening, but when an unexpected friend turns up they decide to go together! And the hidden affections reveal themselves... KitexElk


**Disclaimer: **I do **not** own Bandai, .hack, or **any** of their affiliates, characters, designs, or ideas.

**Warning: **This story contains a pairing between two male characters, If you do not like these types of stories, please refrain from reading any further, or you will risk being offended.

**This story contains spoilers for those who haven't completed .hack game 4, Quarantine.**

A/N: I have tried my very best to keep true to the .hack universe, i have played all 4 games, seen all of .hack/SIGN, and read the manga. BUT! I have made one _minor_ change, i've _upgraded_ their FMDs' so that they can feel certain things, (not including pain.) if this bothers you a lot, then i apologise, but it was neccesary for the story to work properly. But that is ALL i have done (deliberately anyway), everything else is as true to .hack as possible.

Now, if **_that _**hasn't deterred you (which i hope it hasn't), then read on and enjoy!

_**Hidden Affections**_

It was 22:00 (or 10 PM) at Fort Ouph. A young wavemaster sat serenely behind the grunty ranch, watching the clouds eddy and flow before him.

'_I might raise a grunty one day…'_ He mused, it would be nice to have a pet grunty of his own, preferably a big furry one, to keep him company when none of his friends were online, like tonight. Elk was slightly saddened by that thought. He hadn't seen anyone he knew this evening, not even Mia had responded to his flashmail, he hoped she was ok…

He had visited his grandmother this morning, spending most of the day around her house. Even though his grandmother was really nice to him, he had missed seeing his few friends. If only he hadn't left her house so late, he might have been able to see some of them before they went offline for the day…

There was an event today in (Sigma) **Honest, Emotional, Ruby**. He had read on the board that there was a beautiful gem hidden there, which a great prince had given to his love as a symbol of his feelings for her. The prince's love had hidden it in her castle dungeon, locking an ancient demon in its chamber to protect it. And in that chamber the gem supposedly still sat, hidden from the thieves who might wish to steal it… Elk wondered if he should get the gem for Mia, would she like it? It didn't matter; he was far too weak to reach the bottom level of the dungeon on his own anyway, and someone had probably already found it this morning…

Elk was only level 50, but the dungeon was level 70. It was a very daunting task for a lone wavemaster, and he couldn't find the courage to ask someone to help him for the fear of them saying no, or laughing at him. But he didn't want to go alone, and if one of his friends didn't come online soon he would most likely not go, ignoring the event completely.

Elk slowly got to his feet, his knees cracking as he did, walked around to the front of the grunty ranch and sat down on the fence, gazing at the grunties.

'_They're kind of cute.'_ Elk thought fondly, his mind momentarily distracted from the event.

A small grunty walked up to Elk, looking up at him happily. The wavemaster leant down towards it, his arm outstretched, preparing to stroke it, and as he did so, the small grunty gave Elk a massive lick on the face. In his surprise he fell off of the fence and into the grunty pen, his staff falling to the floor, where the small grunty continued it's incessant affectionate licking. Laughing, Elk gently pushed it away, swiftly getting to his feet and retrieving his staff before it could lick him again.

"You must be hungry!" he said playfully, while throwing a few various grunty foods towards the grunty. It swiftly devoured them all before saying "Daddy, I'm hungry! Oink!" in its usual high-pitched squeal. Elk, smiling, chucked him a golden egg, and giggled when he saw the enthusiasm with which it ate it. It then proceeded to ask for many other grunty foods', until it finally became fully-grown. By which point Elk had barely any grunty food left.

A cry of "Mon ami!" was heard, before it changed into a noble grunty and said "Mon ami! Thanks to you I have become a fine gentleman-" Elk chuckled at its strange accent. "I am forever in debt to you, Mon ami!" It then walked over to the wavemaster. Elk rested his staff against the fence and began to stroke its fur, this was the first grunty he had ever raised, something to keep him company, or ride on. He smiled, smelling its fur, (which Elk thought smelt a little like aromatic grass,) and smiling in satisfaction. He then noticed that a flute had appeared in his free hand.

He moved away from the grunty and examined the object in his hand intently. '_This must be a grunty flute' _he reasoned, putting it in his inventory and resuming stroking his grunty.

He didn't notice the twin blade that was staring at him in amusement from a path; the player began to walk merrily up to Elk. The twin blade had expected Elk to turn around at the sound of someone approaching him. But the wavemaster was so intrigued by his grunty, with his back turned to the nearing player, that he didn't notice until a hand fell onto his shoulder and a mirthful voice said "Hey Elk!"

Elk gasped and turned around abruptly, sending the twin blade's hand flying off of his shoulder, his own hand recoiling from the grunty, sharply stopping near his chest. Once Elk saw it was Kite however, he relaxed visibly, sighing in relief, arms lowering to his sides.

"Kite…"

"I see you've raised your own grunty" the twin blade observed, raising his head to get a better look at Elk's noble grunty, the mischievous cheer sparkling in his eyes.

"Yeah." Elk replied modestly, happy that Kite had come online, he was one of the wavemaster's only friends; he had helped him find Mia in that 15 floored dungeon a while ago, and Elk had never forgotten, or lost gratitude for that. Every time he saw Mia's face light up when he gave her aromatic grass, he'd be grateful to Kite for helping him find her.

"What areyou doing online so late Elk?" Kite questioned casually.

"I-I could say the same to you."

"All right you have a point" Kite conceded jocularly.

"Well, I hadn't been able to play The World this morning, so I came on tonight to see if anyone was online." Elk explained.

"Same here, I've been busy completing homework and studying, so I logged in as soon as I could." Kite said.

"So…" the wavemaster said, looking at the floor and playing with the fabric of his gown, thinking.

'_Should I ask for his help?'_

'_No, don't make a fool of yourself, why would someone like Kite, a level 65, want to waste his little time on someone as pitiful as you? Save yourself the embarrassment of rejection, its not like you have any _real_ reason to enter this event anyway. He'll probably laugh at the fact that you want to go to a level- (this train of thought is cut off by a stream of sardonic laughter,) -a level _**seventy** _dungeon!'_

'_**That's ridiculous and you know it! Kite wouldn't just reject a friend like that! Especially not when there are so few online!**'_

'_Exactly, if he helps you, it will only be because he has no one better to spend his time with.'_

Kite noticed the strained look on Elk's face.

"Elk?" Kite asked, concern in his voice.

The wavemastersnapped out of his cogitation, and blurted out "Um…Kite, will you go to a dungeon with me please? I'll understand if you don't want to. " Elk looked up at Kite hopefully.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I'll join you Elk! In this server?" Kite inquired.

"Yeah, why? … I-Is it a p-problem? It's ok if you've changed your mind." Elk said timidly, eyes averting to the floor.

'_This root town seems a bit high, what would make Elk suddenly want to go to a field with a level so much higher than his own?' _Kite pondered.

"No it's not a problem! I was just curious." He replied, not voicing his interest as to why Elk wanted to go to such a high level dungeon.

_'It's probably nothing, there's no need to make a big deal out of it, he probably just wants to gain some levels'.'_

Elk sent Kite a flashmail inviting him to his party; the twin blade accepted it without hesitation. The wavemaster then walked over the grunty ranch fence to pick up his staff, before asking, "Okay, are you ready to go?"

"As ready as ever." Kite replied brightly.

"Then lets go!" Elk called, before walking towards the Chaos Gate, Kite by his side.

Kite usually read the board every day; he had made a routine of it. He had read the post about the event. Deciding that he wasn't sure that there was anyone who he wanted to give the gem to. But that he would do it nonetheless and probably give it to Elk to give to Mia-

'_Which is the most likely thing Elk would do with it'_

-Or give it to another of his friends if Elk didn't want it. Probably Blackrose, or even Mistral, she's always looking for something to add to her item collection….

Elk stood in front of the chaos gate and selected the three keywords, **Honest, Emotional, Ruby**, and was about to warp them to the field when Kite interjected. "Hey, isn't that where the event is being held today?"

"Y-yeah, it is, why?" Elk mentioned bashfully, turning around to see what the twin blade's expression was.

"I read about it on the board and was planning on participating in it tonight, I was hoping to invite you to my party!" Kite chortled. "But it looks like you beat me to it!" he began to laugh a bit harder. Kite's amusement was contagious; Elk couldn't stop a smile spreading across his face at the sight of his laughter, even though he was slightly shocked by the twinblade's reaction.

_'He was going to invite me to his party anyway? I guess he must think I can handle a dungeon this powerful! Or maybe he just couldn't find anyone better to join him…'_

Elk wanted to believe the former, assuring himself it was indeed because Kite trusted in his ability to assist him. When they had sobered, the aqua haired wavemaster took one last look at the cloudy sky before warping them both to **Honest, Emotional, Ruby.**

Two sets of yellow rings descended to the ground, Kite and Elk had entered the field.

Kite looked around him; the grassy plains seemed peaceful, clear starry skies as far as the eye could see. Endless grass except for a ruined castle that stood just 40 feet in front of him, but the field was quiet. Not a sound could be heard. Like an insidious being hiding in the shadows, ready to pounce on you if you moved too close to it. This made Kite very uncomfortable, he had the urge to scream just to hear a sound, but then Elk spoke.  
"Kite-?" His voice was barely audible, even in the soundlessness.

There was a small pause as Kite waited for him to continue, realising he wasn't, the twin blade decided to speak.

"Yes?" Kite asked.

"Well, this, this field it…it's so peaceful" Elk said, his voice almost a whisper. "But something feels…well, it just seems… wrong. Do you know what I mean Kite?"

Kite did, Kite knew _exactly_ what he meant.

"Yes, something here isn't right." Kite muttered.

They both fell silent; Elk looked more closely at the field and was horrified by what he noticed.

"Oh my god." Elk gasped, "Kite look, all the plants" The wavemaster dropped to his knees to examine the grass, "…they're…dead."

Then Kite truly noticed how brown and withered all the plants were, and how arid they all looked.

_'Everything in this field is dead.'_ He thought with shock.

"Elk," the twin blade said, motioning for Elk to get up, "Let's just head over to the dungeon, we can't let something like this stop us right?" Kite looked at Elk, his eyes reflecting his feelings; _I won't give up now_.

"You're right…we can't give up now..." Elk looked up into Kite's deep blue eyes, he was so brave and determined.

_'I wish I could be brave like Kite.' _the wavemaster thought.

Elk slowly got to his feet, taking one last plaintive look at the dead grass, then turning his head towards Kite.

The twin blade smiled reassuringly, "Lets go get that gem." He encouraged; walking steadily towards the castle ruins, Elk close behind, the dead grass making small crunching noises under their feet.

Kite glanced at the wavemaster behind him, smiling as he did so. He liked being around Elk; he was a refreshing contrast to his other friends, most of who were loud or intrusive, (not that he didn't like them of course). Well Elk was the exact opposite to that, so much quieter, and humble too. But he rarely got to spend time with just Elk, because the wavemaster was often-if not always- with Mia.

They were entering the ruins now, although most of the castle appeared to be missing, there were still a few walls left, like a hideous skeleton, slowly fading away. And a stairway…The level 70 dungeon, Kite was only level 65, and Elk was only level 50…

The stairway into the dungeon had an eerie resemblance to a beast's mouth, wide open and hungry for players. Kite stopped at the stairway, and looked to his side, "Elk? Are you ready?" he asked, not sure if he himself was ready yet, but not wanting Elk to know that.

"Uh…Um…I, I think so." Elk replied nervously.

Kite looked into the open mouth of the dungeon and lied.

"I'm ready too, let's go."

Kite walked forward, believing his words more and more with each step. Elk hesitantly following him into the dungeon, deciding that he'd prefer to be in the dungeon with Kite, rather than being in the field alone.

When Kite and Elk had descended into the dungeon's first room, a small dank room with a single dim lantern hanging from the ceiling, a short plump man in a yellow tunic greeted them.

"Hello, and welcome to the 'Lover's Treasure' event, who is the leader of your party?" He asked.

"Kite… you should be the leader, your stronger than I am…" Elk suggested shyly, self-consciously playing with his hands.

Kite looked at Elk, smiling, " Elk, being strong doesn't make a person a good leader, I'm sure you can lead fine, it doesn't matter that you're level 50. Are you sure you want me to be registered as the leader?"

Elk gave two consecutive little nods.

"Okay, I'm the leader of this party." Kite answered.

The plump man nodded before saying, "All right, just so you know, fairies orbs don't work in this dungeon, and neither will your map, got it? Good luck in finding the 'Lover's Treasure'!"

The Iron Gate that had been blocking the pathway ascended into the doorway, opening a passage into a shadowy room.

"Thank you." Kite said, walking towards the open doorway. Elk staying close by his side, realising that Kite probably felt just as nervous as he did, but not wanting to believe that. Kite made Elk feel braver and more capable. If Kite weren't with him now, he wouldn't go another step further into that level 70 dungeon. Mia had a similar effect on him, the feeling was different with Kite though, but in what way Elk couldn't put his finger on…

They walked into the blackness of the opening; the only light entering the room they were in was from the open doorway they had came in from, but the door suddenly slammed shut, making Elk jump and smothering them both in malicious darkness. Kite guessed that the door they needed was on the other side, but he didn't think they would make it that easy, no…there was some trick or trap here somewhere, but what, and where?

_'Damn it, and my fairies orbs are useless here too.'_

"K-K-Kite…Where are you? Kite? KITE?" Elk was becoming very anxious. What if he got lost? What if Kite had left without him? What if Kite had fallen into some unseen trap?

"I'm right here Elk, don't worry" Kite reassured.

Suddenly Kite felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist tightly; he could feel Elk's body come _very_ close to his own. _'I didn't think something could feel so real in The World, these neural-sensory FMDs' really work well.'_

"It's so dark in here…Please? I don't want to get lost…" Elk begged.

Kite thought they would probably be better off just linking hands, but another part of him liked having Elk this close to him.

'_Wait, what am I thinking? Elk is a boy for god's sake!'_

Elk was so tense; his arms were digging into Kite's stomach.

"It's okay Elk, I won't make you get off if you don't want to." The twin blade replied.

Kite felt Elk relax against him a little but didn't see the wavemaster's blush.

"Oh… Th-thank you so much Kite, I'm sorry I'm such a coward…"

"Don't be sorry Elk, everyone is scared of something, it's okay to be afraid. This is a realistic game after all." Kite assured.

There was a slight pause as Kite waited to see if Elk was going to say something.

Seeing he wasn't, the twin blade thought they'd best start moving.

"I'm going to start walking now" Kite announced.

He took a small step forward, and then a bigger step…now he was walking in normal sized steps towards what he thought was the end of the room, Elk's steps almost in synchronisation with Kites.

He thought he could actually see the door now, he began to walk a bit faster, strangely, the door wasn't getting any closer to him. Kite blinked a couple of times to clarify his vision. He was surprised to find that he couldn't see the door anymore, instead seeing a mirror image of himself in front of him, the twin blade halted.

The mirror Kite was smiling happily, it was motioning for Kite to follow it. It looked so sincere…

'_No, it could be a trap.' _Kite thought._  
_

'_But what if it isn't, what if-'_

He felt Elk stir against him.

"What is it Elk?" the twin blade asked.

"…I…I, I think I can see another…another me next to me." Elk stammered anxiously.

"Wait, don't you mean another _me?_" Kite asked.

"N-No, it's me, and it, it's…" Elk broke off, staring at the 'him' crawling on the floor. It started to turn around slowly. It was facing the real Elk now; its face was hidden by shadows as it looked at the floor.

"Elk, what is it doing?" Kite half demanded.

"I, d-don't know…"

It began to lift its head up, its face gradually becoming visible. Elk wished it hadn't.

Where its eyes should have been were red, bleeding, pussy holes. Then it grinned, showing it's sharp bloodstained fangs. It started to get up, its gaze focused upon Elk. Finally, it raised its finger and pointed at the wavemaster, its grin widening to a degree no human could ever achieve.

The real Elk pressed his head into Kite's back and his arms constricted around the twin blade's waist.

"Elk, what can you see?" Kite was half pleading half ordering the wavemaster, whatever Elk could see was dangerous, and Kite wanted to know where it was.

"…Kite, I'm sorry, I don't want to look any more…." He said. He sounded so frightened, what could have disturbed him so much?

Kite was becoming very concerned; he franticly looked around him.

'_Another _Elk? _But I don't see any…' _Kite thought.

_'Is Elk lying?'_

'_No, he wouldn't do that.'_

'_Then what is he seeing?'_

'_Well…have you considered that the 'other you' isn't really you? After all, how could you fight an exact replica of yourself, including items and weapons? They couldn't program that without a _lot_ of difficulty. So it's either a monster _disguised_ as you, or it isn't a monster at all, but just something only you, the leader of the party can see. I think that the latter option is more likely. Maybe that's the case with this 'other Elk'?'_

Then he realised.

"Wait a _minute_! You're not real! You're just an illusion!" Kite yelled triumphantly, stabbing his blade at his mirror self and startling Elk.

The mirror Kite dissipated into nothing, and the darkness also began to slowly recede, revealing the room to have a large pit stretching around its entire perimeter (Other than in the immediate vicinity of the entry and exit doors). Kite realised now that the mirror-them were only there to lure the real them into the pit to die.

_'Clever, this event is going to be difficult if there are any more traps like that one, but I'll be on the lookout for them from now on.'_

Kite felt Elk hesitantly releasing him, why did he feel slightly disappointed? Was he attracted to the young wavemaster?

'_No, it's wrong to like other boys like that, it's probably nothing, you don't like other boys do you? No, no you couldn't possibly…but…'_

The twin blade physically shook the thought out of his head and turned to the wavemaster, who was currently looking at the floor, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

'_It just disappeared? Just like that? It wasn't really dark at all? There wasn't any other-me?'_ he thought, in disbelief at what he had just seen, but relieved that it had all only been an illusion. Elk didn't want to linger in this room for too much longer, in case the darkness came back, along with the other-him. A hand gently fell upon his shoulder. The wavemaster looked up at Kite.  
"Elk, are you ready to move on to the next room?" The twin blade asked.

Elk felt…strange… all of a sudden. But it was a nice sort of strange. Like when he had held onto Kite when the room was dark…

Realising that he had better reply, Elk said "yes".

"Okay then" the twin blade removed his hand from the wavemaster's shoulder, then began to walk toward the doorway that would lead them to the next room, being careful to avoid the pit.

The wavemaster followed Kite, deep in thought.

_'Why do I feel so funny around Kite today?'_

'_Maybe you like Kite more than you would a friend.'_

'_No, that's can't be it!'_

'_Are you so sure?'_

Elk decided to just stop thinking about it, thinking about it wasn't helping at the moment.

He and Kite were both standing in front of the door now; it was large and appeared to be made out of oak, it had no door handle. Intricate carvings covered its surface, carvings of demons, pain…and death. The twin blade saw the wavemaster by his side.  
"Don't worry, I'm sure that's just there to scare people off, there's probably nothing bad in there." Kite assured, noticing the scepticism on Elk's face.

Realising that it might take a while to convince Elk, Kite decided against it. Instead, he placed his hands against the door and pushed with all of his might. It opened almost as soon as he had begun to push, nearly sending him sprawling onto the floor, but he steadied himself before he could fall forwards. Kite stepped back and stood next to the wavemaster, observing the room ahead of them.

Similar to the room where the plump man had been, it too, was dank and dark, with dirty stone walls; wooden torches were placed intermittently on them. The room itself was cross-shaped, at the end of the hallway in front of Kite and Elk; three more hallways' appeared to branch out. A block of some kind seemed to be at the centre of the whole room.

Kite glanced at his companion before walking into the hallway. The noise of their feet hitting the stone floor were the only sounds that could be heard in the hallway, other than the occasional dripping noise.

'_Well-' _Elk thought, _'at least it isn't as dark here as it was in the room we just left.'_

_'You're such a wimp, it's only a game you know!'_

'_Yeah, but…'  
_

'_No buts, you're a coward! Just admit it! You're afraid of the dark in a game for crying out loud!'_

They both stopped; they had reached the pedestal.

Y-E-S

Was written on it.

"Yes?" Kite wondered aloud. "What does YES mean?"

Elk looked at the 3 directions they could walk in, and noticed something very peculiar. All 3 doorways they could enter had bronze numbers above them.

The door to their left had 14 15 above it.  
The door in front of them had 4 5 1 20 8 above it.  
The door to their right had 25 5 19 above it.

_'What do those numbers mean?'_ Elk reflected.

Kite was confused, what could YES possibly have to do with numbers' like 4, 5, 1, 20 and 8? This event was starting to get difficult…

For a little while neither of them talked. Both were considering the puzzle before them.

'_I can't know for sure which way to go, I'll just have to guess.' _Kite thought hopelessly.

"Elk! Let's go down the middle passageway." Kite instructed, walking around the pedestal towards the centre hall.

"W-Wait…uh, I, I think I know which way to go…" Elk said timorously.

Kite abruptly stopped, before turning to face the wavemaster.

"You do? Which way is it Elk?" Kite uttered, the curiosity in his voice not hidden.

"Well uh, it's not YES, it's Y, E, S. Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the English alphabet. Um…and E is the fifth…and, S is the nineteenth. So maybe we should go right." Elk replied.  
"-But you're probably right Kite, I must be wrong, forget what I said." He added hastily.

"Wow Elk, I think you've got it!" Kite remarked, ignoring the wavemaster's comment, astounded that Elk could have made an observation like that so quickly. (Well, _he_ thought it was quick. He didn't listen very carefully during language classes.)

"Really?" Elk asked, confused. He had really got it right?

"Yes! Come on lets go to door number 25 5 19!"

Kite turned to the door on his right and started enthusiastically heading towards it, Elk contentedly following him, glad that he had been useful. The door loomed closer and closer, until finally it was behind them.

They had entered the next room.

This room was a straight hallway; it was long, dark and ominous. It didn't appear to be made of the dirty old stone that the previous rooms were. Large obsidian pillars rose high from the ground to the vaulted ceiling. The floor was littered with bones, but the floor itself was black, which led Kite to believe that the floor too, was obsidian. But it was too dark to discern anything else; Kite simply assumed the entire room comprised of obsidian…except the solitary portal at the room's centre, waiting to unleash whatever demons were pent up inside of it. Waiting to destroy or devour another victim, and add their bones to its abhorrent collection.

"Not this time." Kite thought aloud.

"What?" Elk asked, thinking Kite had been addressing him.

"Uh, nothing. Are you ready?" Kite replied.

"…Not really, but I wont let you do it alone Kite."

Kite clapped Elk lightly on the shoulder.

"Then lets do it together."

The wavemaster smiled, "Okay."

'_He's so beautiful…'_

'_Excuse me, BEAUTIFUL? It is wrong to like other boys that way, do you hear me! W-R-O-N-G, WRONG!'  
_

'_But, I think I do, I think I…love him.'_

'_But I can't tell him that, or he'll probably be too embarrassed to log in, and then I'll never see him again…'_

The twin blade realised that he was staring at Elk and quickly averted his eyes, his face red.

"Uh-lets go get that monster then Elk!" Kite said, before quickly walking towards the portal, his wavemaster companion following carefully behind him.

The sound of organ music could be heard; it's harsh, forbidding tones spreading through the entire hallway, chilling the twin blade and wavemaster to the bone.

They were getting within activation range of the portal now, only a few more steps and it would release whatever monster it held captive.

Kite turned to face Elk and ordered, "Elk quickly, move back, this monster might be big."

Elk ran back a few strides before turning to face Kite again; the portal was opening now.

It made the activation noise before a medium sized monster appeared. It stood on two legs, its arms folded. It was very pale, wore a large black gown and had long snow-white hair.

Its eyes were like pussy, bleeding pits, its teeth were sharp fangs, stained red…by blood?

It was grinning…

_'It looks like…the other me!'_

Its name appeared on Elk's screen, Bardox, King of illusions.

"Lanceor Ch!" Elk cried as he cast the summoning spell.

**Magic Tol. **

"M-Magic tolerance?"

"Don't worry Elk, just keep healing me ok?" Kite called.

"Okay! Be careful Kite!"

Before Kite could act against the monster his entire field of vision went pitch black.

"What the hell is going on?"

Elk's screen had gone black too.

'_What's happened? Why can't I see?' _

The room had fallen totally silent, but the wavemaster didn't notice, too concerned by the fact that he couldn't hear Kite, where was he? Was he okay?

_'I must have chosen the wrong door! I'm such an idiot!'_

Elk was desperate now, "KITE! KITE! Are you okay?" he yelled.

The wavemaster was about to start running in the direction where he had last seen Kite, to help him, when his screen started to clear up.

"Hey, I think I…Yes, I can. I can see again."

Elk scanned the room for Kite, seeing his red form lying still in the spot where the monster once stood. He ran over to the twin blade just as he began getting up.  
"Kite! You're okay? Oh thank god! You had me worried for a second the-"

Kite slapped Elk across the face viciously, sending him sprawling onto the floor amongst a pile of bones, before slowly walking towards his pitiful form.

The wavemaster carefully lifted his head up off of the ground and looked at Kite.

"Kite? Why did you hit me?" Elk was shuffling away from the twin blade, fear and confusion in his voice.

Kite just smiled callously, before running up to Elk and kicking his side, sending him crashing into a wall with a "Ugh!"

The wavemaster merely sat there and whimpered, watching Kite draw his blades, slowly bringing them up…and up…

"Why are you doing this?"

Kite just grinned wickedly.

_'What's happened to Kite? This isn't like him…'_

The wavemaster closed his eyes and hugged his knee's, awaiting his death.

Suddenly Elk heard an inhuman scream, filled with pain and disbelief. He opened his eyes and saw the monster standing exactly where Kite had been, with Kite standing behind him, his blade through it's back.

_'It tricked me!'_

"Kite!"

"Elk Ru-!" Kite was launched across to the other side of the room by the monster's elbow, before the creature gruffly pulled the blade out of its back, recklessly throwing it away from him.

"Kite noo!"

The creature picked Elk up with one arm and threw him further down the hall, before casting the darkness-summoning spell (Wryneck).

Elk didn't have time to fully stand up before he was launched down to the end of the hall, smacking into the closed doorway, and then finally falling upon the floor, only a few HP left.

Luckily he hadn't lost grip of his staff.

"O-O…Ola-Repth!" Elk muttered the incantation weakly, his health points being restored to a safer level.

The wavemaster didn't get a reprieve from the monsters relentless attack; it was already within striking distance of him.

_'I can't let myself be killed now. I can't give up…'_

Elk quickly rolled to the side as the monster brought down its claws, accidentally striking the floor, causing it to lose momentum. The wavemaster got to his feet and started to run away from the demon, looking for Kite in the progress.

_'Got to find him! Where are you Kite?'_

Something intensely hot struck his back, sending Elk flying, and inevitably landing, face first next to one of the obsidian pillars. Elk looked to the side; he could see Kite! He was near the door leading to the next room, but, he wasn't moving…was he-?

_'No! He can't be dead; I'd see his ghost right? But then why isn't he moving?'_

The monster was now directly in front of Elk, completely obscuring all view of Kite and engulfing the wavemaster in shadow. Elk looked up into its face; its wicked mouth was spread into a wide grin, saliva dribbling down its chin…

_'It's going to eat me, and if I try to escape it'll catch me before I do…'_

Elk felt helpless as the creature raised its claws for the final blow, higher and higher; the sadistic smile spread across it's cracked ancient face.

"DATA-DRAIN!"

_'Kite!'_ Elk thought with astonishment.

Streams of code struck the demon, which howled in indignant pain.

It started to change shape, slowly becoming smaller and smaller.

Finally, the transformation finished, it's code rewritten. It was now-

A small skull…

Kite ran up to it swiftly and struck it, causing the skull to become a dull grey before disappearing. Kite moved Elk into a siting position before asking, "Are you all right Elk?"

The twin blade was very close to Elk, but the wavemaster didn't mind…

"I'm fine, how about you?"

"So having one hundredth of your HP is fine huh?" Kite replied jocularly, before using a healing potion to restore some of Elk's HP.

"Kite…What happened?" Elk asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I, I thought you were attacking me…but it turned out to be the monster…so, where were you?" Elk questioned.

"I had the same thing, I saw you, then when I walked up to you I was hit by a vak don spell. I knew that you couldn't have defeated the monster, as it was magic tolerant. You didn't have any status ailments, and I didn't think that you would suddenly decide to attack me without a reason. So, I slashed it with my blades, and it disappeared. Revealing the real you and the monster. It was trying to deceive us." Kite explained. "So…uh, do you want to go to the next room?"

Was Kite blushing? Why was he blushing?

"Um, sure."

They got to their feet, and began to head towards the door to the next room. The door to this room was different than the others; it had a golden knob and frame, along with the door itself being made of obsidian. But other than that it was plain. Kite opened the door, and they both stepped inside…

The room looked almost like any other Gott statue room, the chest included. except this one had an unusual statue, one that Elk didn't recognise.

"Go on." Kite said, motioning for Elk to open the chest.

The wavemaster walked tentatively toward the chest, before tapping it with his staff.

The chest slowly opened, revealing a beautiful red orb. The lovers treasure, but who could Elk give it to?

_'I think I know exactly who I want to give this to.'_

_'No! Don't! You mustn't give it to Kite! What if he doesn't feel that way huh? What if he laughs in your face!'_

_'But…I've got to tell him now, or else I might not ever have enough courage to tell him.'_

_'No! Please don't! Do you want to lose one of your best friends over this?'_

Elk picked up the red orb. And placed it in his inventory.

_'This might be my only chance…'_

_'No! You mustn't tell him!'_

"Hey Elk, who are going to give it to?" Kite asked cheerfully, although deep down inside he hoped it was him, but knew it wouldn't be.

"Uh…I…um, I'm sorry, I've got to log off. Thanks for helping me Kite." Elk smiled unconvincingly before using a sprite ocarina to exit the dungeon.

"He will probably give it to Mia" Kite thought aloud, he was disappointed.

_'You weren't going to tell him you loved him anyway were you? So it why does it matter if he didn't give it to you?'_

_'Because if he had given it to me, I would have told him how I felt, because then I would have known he felt the same way….'_

Kite left the dungeon as well, before logging off and going to bed.

But he was having trouble sleeping. As 'Kite's' clock shone 0:00 his mind was very much active.

_'What should I do?'_

_'Isn't it obvious? Send him a message asking him to meet you somewhere…Then tell him how you feel!'_

_'But…'_

_'But what?'_

The boy thought about this for a few minutes.

_'But what if, because of me telling him, he avoids me?'_

_'Could you ignore this feeling forever? Do you really think that you can just forget about this?'_

_'No…'_

_'Then tomorrow. Tell him. Tell him how you feel.'_

_'But…'_

_'No buts', either you tell him tomorrow, or avoid him forever. Which do you think is best hmm?'_

_'Okay, I'll…I'll tell him tomorrow. I just hope it's the right decision.'_

'Kite' closed his eyes, and after a half-hour of fidgeting, fell asleep.

1:10

'Elk' hadn't been able to sleep for the whole hour that he had been in bed.

_'Why didn't I tell him?'_

_'Like I keep telling you. Don't worry, you did the right thing, I mean, he probably wouldn't have felt the same way. Then he would have probably avoided you. Would that have made you happy? Well?'_

_'But I had the chance to tell him! And I blew it!'_

'_What did I say? It was the right decision! So just forg-_

_'I cant!'_

'_You can, and you will, now go to sleep!'_

'_I'm never going to be able to sleep tonight…I know what I'm going to do.'_

'_OH NO you don't! Don't do something so reckless! Are you listening to me?'_

'_No, I want to tell him. I can't just ignore this feeling, pretend it's not there…I've listened to you for too long.'_

'_If you tell him you'll regret it forever! You will be ostracised! And you will end up with fewer friends than you have now! If that's even possible!'_

'_Shut up. If there ever could be a reason for taking a risk, this would be it. I know I might lose a lot. But… I don't think I could hide this feeling from Kite even if I wanted to…'_

The boy slowly got out of his bed, it was pitch black in his room but he didn't need to see to know where his desk was. His feet made small patting noises as he crossed the floor, his arms outstretched. His right hand felt something hard…it felt like the corner of his desk. He slowly moved across to his left, his other arm searching in that direction. He felt something round in his left hand-the arm of his desk-chair, and removing his right hand from his desk, sat down on the chair.

He stretched his arms forward again…slowly…slowly…

_'Found it!'_

The boy hesitated for a few seconds before finally activating The World, carefully picking up his controller, then putting on his FMD.

Log in.

User name: Elk  
Password: 51211

Logging in…

Welcome to The World, Elk!

Elk looked around Mac Anu's quiet streets. It wasn't often that the root town was this empty. The wavemaster spotted 2, maybe 3 people in his entire FOV.

_'So this is what it's like when only a few people are playing The World'_

The wavemaster began to walk forward, towards a bridge, looking around the near-uninhabited town. As he reached the bridge he noticed the sound of the river.

_'Such a beautiful sound… So relaxing.'_

Elk continued across the bridge, before turning left and walking down a street where some stores were, then sitting on the floor by the river's edge, the bridge's large form rising up in his peripheral vision.

The wavemaster moved his hands up to the top of his staff, then lackadaisically lowered the tip of it into the river, moving it in a circular motion.

'_You idiot! You're just going to sit here? That's _really _telling him your feelings!'_

'_I'm waiting.'_

'**Waiting**_? Waiting. You really _**are**_ stupid.'_

'_I don't care how dumb it is, this is what I'm going to do.'_

'_By doing this you are betraying _everyone_, that includes Mia. What would she think of this eh? You think she would be happy? Because _I_ don't.'_

Elk stopped toying with his staff, suddenly feeling guilty.

_'I think she will take this badly, and never speak to you again! You traitor! She's been with you longer than Kite has! She can't go out and make more friends can she? She's game data! She trusted you! And you're going to let her down! I hope you feel guilty!'_

_'I didn't say I would forget about Mia… Just…' _

_'Just what hmm? You can't have it all, so now you've got to decide! Kite? Or Mia?'_

_'I haven't got to decide, and Mia wouldn't hate me. Because I would never just forget about her, and I think she knows that, because friends don't just leave each other._

Elk felt a little better after that. He placed his staff next to him, and prepared for a very long wait. The wavemaster looked up at the starry sky, and was surprised at how real it looked, even though it was in a game.

"I'm tired"

The wavemaster realised that he might not be able to stay awake long enough for him to tell Kite.

_'No, I mustn't fall asleep, or else I'll never be able to tell him, I must stay awake…'_

Elk could feel his eyelid's drooping, and shook his head to keep himself alert.

"It's going to be a long wait." He mumbled.

He looked around him, observing the shimmer of the lights reflecting on the water. The beautiful designs on the buildings. And the peaceful silence that enveloped the root town, only broken occasionally by the sound of footsteps, or someone saying Hi, and sometimes by people logging out.

Elk thought of Mia, Kite, of how he could tell Kite what he intended to tell him, and time passed by at an unbearably slow pace. With the wavemaster finding it harder to stay awake with each passing second.

_'Must stay awake…Must, stay, awake…'_

5:45

Elk had been desperately trying to stay awake for four hours now, resorting to looking at all of the stores to see if there was anything worth buying, and singing various nursery rhymes to himself. He was so incredibly tired; he couldn't concentrate on anything anymore. And as he stood on a bridge in Mac Anu, random thoughts shot through his mind.

_'Pretty water…pretty' _

_'Oh my god, I think I'm going insane'_

'_Staff, Kite…'_

'_WAKE UP! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO TELL KITE HOW YOU FEEL IF YOU'RE LIKE THIS? WELL?'_

Elk shook his head viciously, regaining some consciousness in the process.

"I must stay awake, I must…"

Elk looked to the east and saw the sun rising, ever so slowly. It's golden beauty consuming the sky and all of Mac Anu in light.

_'That's amazing, even in a game, it's as beautiful as a real sunrise. It looks so real.'_

What Elk didn't realise however, was that he was now much more awake than he had been a moment ago. And as the sun continued to rise, the sky gradually changed from a midnight blue, to azure.

The wavemaster looked over at the Chaos Gate yearningly.

_'Kite, please come online soon, I don't think I can stay awake much longer.'_

He then walked across the bridge, turned left, and sat down in the place where he had sat 4 hours earlier, the lovers treasure in his hands. Noticing that the streets were once again becoming populated, but not nearly as populated as they would be in a few more hours. Elk's thoughts ran through his head in a steady stream, his doubts, his feelings, and his thoughts on his surroundings, all of them surging through his mind in a river of thought. He was feeling guilty about his feelings for Kite, he knew that some people would stop being his friend because of those feelings, he knew he might hurt someone else's feelings by telling Kite. As well as the fact that the twin blade may be offended that Elk loves him.

_'Maybe I should just forget about it and log off, that way I wont hurt _anyone's_ feelings.'_

'_After waiting _this_ long, you want to give up? You could have given up before you logged in but you didn't, you could have given up 4 hours ago, but you didn't. Oh but _now, now _you want to give up. After all you've done? After all the hours you have waited? Decide now, are you going to _leave _and play it safe by never talking to Kite again? Or are you going to _stay _and give Kite that lovers treasure?'_

After a moment's deliberation, Elk made his decision.

6:00

Beep! Beep! Beep!

'Kite' woke up, was it 8:00 already?

Then he looked at his clock.

_'Stupid thing, always goes off two hours earlier than I tell it to. How could I forget?'_

The boy stopped it's incessant beeping, suddenly remembering yesterday.

_'Well, since I'm awake, I guess I'll… tell him now, that is, if he's even online yet.'_

'Kite' was nervous, he knew the only way he'd be able to do this is if he forced himself to do it without thinking about it.

He got dressed quickly, to avoid any unnecessary hesitation. The light from his window fell upon his desk, bathing it in early morning light. He hesitantly went over to it, and sat in his chair, his apprehension increasing.

_'Should I?'_

'_Yes, do it! Before you change your mind!'_

Kite activated The World, and putting on his FMD, logged in.

Log in.

User name: Kite  
Password: etiK

Logging in…

Welcome to The World, Kite!

Kite briefly scanned his surroundings before opening up a menu of people whose member addresses he had. He closed down the menu, he couldn't tell Elk just yet. He decided he'd go for a brief stroll first.

He walked towards the bridge, noticing that Mac Anu wasn't at its peak of busyness yet. Kite crossed the bridge, turned left and halted.

It was Elk.

"Kite! Hi." He sounded tired.

"Hi Elk" Kite replied, his face turning red, along with his hands beginning to sweat.

The twin blade walked over to where Elk was sitting and sat down next to him, leaving little space between them.

_'Come on tell him!'_ Kite's mind urged.

'_Come on wimp! Give him the Gem! I can't wait to see his reaction!'_ Elk's mind taunted.

Elk turned to Kite, and blushing furiously, held the gem out to him.

"Uh…Kite, I…Uh…Um…well…"

Kite slowly took the gem and placed it in his inventory.

_'Oh no, I don't think he's happy.'_

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

Kite gently placed his gloved finger over Elk's lips. "It's okay, you don't have to say anything, I understand."

Then Kite leaned towards Elk, both their lips parting, Kite's hand moving to the back of Elk's head, his other hand moving to Elk's back. Elk doing the same, their faces coming closer, Elk could feel Kite's warm breath on his face, and then their lips connected softly. The wavemaster could feel Kite's tongue pressing against his lips, so he opened them and allowed the twin blade's tongue to move along the roof of his mouth, then rub against his own tongue. The wavemaster withdrew from the kiss first, resting his head against Kite's chest, his arms wrapping around the twin blade's waist. Kite put one of his arms around Elk before asking, "Elk, were you waiting here for me?"

"Yes, I…I wanted to give the gem to you…"

Kite smiled, "You sound tired, how long have you been waiting here?"

"I waited four and a half, hours, but I'm glad I did." Elk snuggled closer to Kite.

_'Four and a half, hours? He's been waiting here since 1:30?'_ The twin blade thought with awe.

The wavemaster hadn't felt this comfortable and secure in a long time, and Kite really did feel for Elk as Elk felt for him! The wavemaster was glad that he had given the twin blade the gem. He was so comfy, and so tired…

_'No, don't fall asleep now, don't ruin this moment.'_

_'I mustn't fall asleep yet. I want to be awake with Kite a little more first...but I'm so tired…Mustn't fall asleep…mustn't…fall…asleep…'_

Kite couldn't believe it. Elk had actually felt the same way the whole time… So that was why he had logged out as soon as he had attained the gem. It was because he was too nervous to give it to me… but he had given it to me in the end hadn't he?

Kite looked down at the gentle wavemaster leaning on his chest, his eyes were closed, and he was making deep breathing sounds.

_'Poor guy, he was so tired, waiting all night for me… I won't wake him up just yet, I don't mind sitting like this for a bit longer.'_ Kite thought endearingly.

Kite wouldn't mind sitting there for eternity… just as long as he was sitting with Elk.


End file.
